Packs for articles of merchandise

ABSTRACT

The disclosure relates to a pack for articles of food or other merchandise comprising a bag (30) and a carton form (40) for supporting a lower part of the bag having a base (41) with a central fold line (32) and walls (43) hinged to the base along further fold lines (44) to enable the carton and bag to be folded flat and to be erected to open the bag. The side walls of the lower part of the bag are secured to the side walls of the carton so that when the carton is erected by opening the folded base into a V-form, the bottom part of the bag is opened, and, as the V-form is progressively widened, the bag is tensioned by the walls moving apart until the base of the carton moves &#34;over center&#34; and inverts to brace the lower part of the bag open to receive an article or articles to be packed therein.

This invention relates to a pack for articles of merchandise such as"fast-food" products including burgers, fish pieces, chicken pieces andfrench fries, or other food items including confectioners, bakeryproducts or gift items.

FR-A-1,339.852 discloses a package comprising a continuous strip ofrigid packaging material, for example of cardboard, which envelopes abag or sachet. The strip is divided by folding lines into two sidepanels separated by folding lines from bottom rectangles. The bottomrectangles are folded between one another by a folding line enabling thestrip to be flattened and the bag to be sandwiched for stacking andstorage.

GB-A-2087357 discloses a collapsible container e.g. for a food productsuch as chipped potatoes includes front and back walls which at theirmutually adjacent edges are hinged on bowed hinge lines to a foldablebottom for the container. At their side edges the front and back wallsare connected to side wall forming panels by further bowed hinge lines,these panels being secured in overlapping relationship. The bowed hingelines of the bottom and side walls co-operate with associated medianfold lines of those walls to hold the carton erected and capable ofstanding upright.

It is an object of the invention to provide a pack for food or the likein which the base of the pack is positively held erect.

This invention provides a pack for articles of food or other merchandisecomprising a paper or film bag and a carton form for supporting a lowerpart of the bag having a base with a central fold line and walls hingedto the base along further fold lines to enable the carton and bag to befolded flat and to be erected to open the bag, the side walls of saidlower part of the bag being secured to the side walls of the carton sothat when the carton is erected by opening the folded base into a V-formthe bottom part of the bag is opened, and, as the V-form isprogressively widened, is tensioned as the walls move apart until thebase of the carton moves "over centre" and inverts to hold the lowerpart of the bag open to receive an article or articles to be packedtherein, wherein ends of the base are of projecting V-shaped form andsaid further fold lines between the side walls and bottom of the cartonare convexly curved so that on inverting the base of the carton goes"over centre" and assumes a concavely curved form with the side walls ofthe carton bowed or convexly curved whereby the base of the carton isbraced open against the bottom part of the bag held open in tension.

Generally the sides of the bag may be bonded to the walls of the carton.

More specifically, the sides of the bag may be adhered to the walls ofthe carton.

In one particular embodiment of the invention the carton may compriseside walls and end walls and a bottom wall bridging the side walls butnot connected to the end walls.

In the latter arrangement the end walls of the carton may be shorterthan the side walls of the carton so that when the carton is unfolded,the bottom wall of the carton forms a V-formation which can be snappedinto an inverted V which holds the side walls apart with the end wallsstraight to receive an article in the container.

More specifically, the carton may be located within the bag.

In alternative arrangements the bag may be located within the cartonwith the sides of the bag secured to the inside faces of the side wallsof the carton.

In the latter arrangement, the mouth part of the bag may be folded toform outwardly extending wing portions which can be folded around thearticle between the side walls and tucked between the bottom wall of thebag and base of the carton to hold the bag closed.

The following is a description of some specific embodiments of theinvention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which;

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a blank sheet of paper with a superimposedcarton blank of material for a carton from which a pack for a burger orother article is formed;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the completed folded pack in flatcondition;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the pack erected and open to receive anarticle to be wrapped;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the pack after insertion of an articlein the pack with the pack partially closed;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the pack fully closed.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a blank for a paper bag to receive an articleof merchandise having a lower part supported by a carton form;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a completed pack of the form shown inFIG. 6 in flattened condition ready for erection;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the pack opened ready to receive anarticle of merchandise;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a blank for a further form of pack; and

FIGS. 10 to 13 illustrate the progressive opening of the pack from flatform to fully erected and filled pack.

Referring firstly to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is shown arectangular sheet of giftwrap paper 10 to which a blank 11 of materialfor an open-topped carton is laminated, the blank being positionedsymmetrically on either side of a centre line 12 on the sheet aboutwhich the sheet is folded as described later.

The cardboard blank comprises a bottom wall 13 having a pre-creasedcentre line 14 located in line with the centre line 12 of the sheet 10.Side walls 15 are connected to the outer edges of the bottom wall alongcurved pre-creased lines 16. Each side wall 15 has end wall portions 17with pre-creased lines 18 between the end wall portions and respectiveside walls. The end wall portions 17 on one of the side walls 15 haveextended glue tabs 19 to be bonded to the end wall portions of the sidewall.

Sheet 10 is cut along the dotted outline 20 which includes recesses 21cut in either side of the sheet and bands 22 of adhesive are applied tothe sheet around the edges of the recesses and to the glue tabs 19 ofthe end portions of the carton. Alternatively the sheet may be formedfrom a heat-sealable film material to be adhered together by applicationof heat and pressure along the bands and other areas indicated.

The sheet 10 is folded about the centre line 12 as indicated earlier toadhere or heat seal the edges of each recess 21 on either side of thecentre line to each other and to adhere or heat seal the tabs 19 on theend portions of one of the side walls 15 to the end portions of theother side wall to form a folded blank as illustrated in FIG. 2. The endportions 23 of the sheet are separated to open the blank as illustratedin FIG. 3. The folded blank of carton material within the folded sheetcan then be opened by separating the side walls 15 and pressing thecentre of the folded base 13 upwardly towards the side walls. The lengthof the part of the blank forming the base 13 is greater than the lengthof the end walls 17 so that the base 13 forms a V-formation between theside walls when the end walls are held straight between the side walls.The V-shaped base can then be pressed "over centre" between the sidewalls into an inverted V-formation to hold the side walls apart. Theblank then forms an open-topped carton within the sheet 10 ready toreceive an item of merchandise such as a burger or other article.

Having inserted the article in the carton, the end portions of the sheet23 are folded together as illustrated in FIG. 4 to close the top of thecarton and are tucked underneath the bottom of the carton as illustratedin FIG. 5 to complete the pack. It will be noted that upper edges of theside walls 15 are curved or curvilinear to provide a curved profile tothe top of the pack and the curved fold lines 16 between the bottomedges of the side walls and the base of the carton form a curved bottomto the carton.

The sheet with its laminated inner carton forms a flexible pack whichcan be supplied in flat form and effectively becomes a semi-rigidcontainer to receive and hold an article to be merchandised. In the caseof the food item such as a burger, the pack forms a convenient devicefor holding the burger whilst it is being consumed.

Referring now to FIG. 6 of the drawings, there is shown a blankindicated generally at 30 for a pack to receive articles of food ormerchandise. In this case the bag is particularly intended for holding asupply of "french fries" confectionery or other snack products such ascrisps, nuts, popcorn etc. for consumption.

The blank comprises two walls 31 connected together at a fold line 32and cut to provide side edges 33 and top edges 34 with "profiled" tocreate the required bag shape. Immediately adjacent the fold line 32,the walls diverge sharply as indicated at 35 to a point 36 to form thebottom wall of the bag and after which they diverge at a shallow anglesto define the side walls of the bag. The walls of the bag are heatsealed or otherwise adhered together along bands indicated at 37 to formthe bag leaving the top edges 34 unattached to provide an opening intothe bag through which the articles of food or other merchandise areinserted into the bag.

A cardboard carton form indicated generally at 40 is secured to the sideof the paper blank which is to form the outer face of the bag. The blankcomprises a base 41 extending across the blank and having a central foldline 42 coincident with the bottom fold 32 of the paper blank. The basehas side walls 43 connected to it along further fold lines 44 which areconvexly curved, as can be seen in FIG. 6, for a purpose describedbelow. The side walls 43 are secured by heat sealing or adhesive to thesides of the bag.

FIG. 7 of the drawings shows the completed bag/carton form with the sideedges of the bag adhered together as described above and in generallyflat form prior to filling.

The top or mouth of the bag is opened to receive an article and thelower portion held open as shown in FIG. 8 by erecting the carton asfollows. The sides 31 of the bag are spread open by inserting a fillingdevice, e.g. a chip scoop or by pulling down on the top edges of thecarton from the sides and pushing up the base 42. Otherwise the top canbe opened by inserting the fingers of a hand into top of the bag. Atthis stage the bottom of the carton is in a generally V-formation. Bypressing the fold line 32 of the carton between the side walls of thecarton the V-form is gradually widened, tensioning the bottom part ofthe bag between the side walls until it inverts and goes "over centre".The bottom of the carton inverts to a concave shape as a result of thecorner fold lines 44 and the side walls of the carton have conversecurvature. The carton is then self supporting and holds the bottom ofthe bag open ready to receive a supply of "french fries" or other foodor articles of merchandise.

FIG. 9 of the drawings shows a slightly different bag form in which theedges of the side walls of the bag nearest the fold line at its bottomare convexly curved to give a generally circular shape to the bottom ofthe bag. Above the convexly curved edges the side walls flair upwardlyand outwardly, as indicated at 45, to end in wide top flaps 46. Theedges of the side walls are secured together by heat sealing or adhesivealong the band lines 47 indicated.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 10 to 13 which illustrate the openingdirection of the bag and filling of the bag.

The bag is particularly suitable for a item of food such as a burger.The burger is placed in the lower portion of the bag supported by thecarton and the top flaps of the bag are then folded together over theburger and the resulting wing portions are folded downwardly and tuckedinto the gap between the bottom of the bag and base of the carton formto hold the bag closed to protect the burger or other food item enclosedin the bag.

It would be appreciated that many modifications may be made to the abovedescribed embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, the bag may be formed with deep gussets along either sideto provide a wider opening where required. The top edges of the bag canbe provided with a closure such as a self adhesive strip, heat seal orcan be simply folded together to close the top of the bag to provide atamper evident closure. Further, the fold lines of the cardboard cartonforms could be perforated for ease of pre-creasing to facilitateerection of the carton form.

I claim:
 1. A pack for articles of food or other merchandise comprisinga paper or film bag and a carton form for supporting a lower part of thebag, said carton form having a base with a central fold line and sidewalls hinged to the base along further fold lines to enable the cartonform and bag to be folded flat and to be erected to open the bag, sidewalls of a lower part of the bag being secured to the side walls of thecarton form so that when the carton form is erected by opening thefolded base into a V-form, the bottom part of the bag is opened,characterized in that the bottom part of the bag is progressivelywidened as the V-form is progressively widened and the side walls of thecarton form move apart until the base of the carton form moves "overcenter" and inverts and characterized in that ends of the base of thecarton form are of projecting V-shape form, and the said further foldlines between the side walls and bottom of the carton form are convexlycurved so that, on inverting, the base of the carton form assumes aconcavely curved form with the side walls of the carton form bowed orconvexly curved, whereby the base of the carton form is braced openagainst the bottom part of the bag which is held open in tension.
 2. Apack as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the sides of the bagare bonded to the side walls of the carton.
 3. A pack as claimed inclaim 2, characterized in that the sides of the bag are adhered to theside walls of the carton.
 4. A pack as claimed in any of the precedingclaims, characterized in that the carton form comprises side walls andend walls and a bottom wall bridging the side walls but not connected tothe end walls.
 5. A pack as claimed in claim 4, characterized in thatthe end walls of the carton form are shorter than the side walls of thecarton form so that when the carton form is unfolded, the bottom wall ofthe carton form forms a V-formation which can be snapped with the endwalls straight to receive an article in the container.
 6. A pack asclaimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the carton form islocated within the bag.
 7. A pack as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3,characterized in that the bag is located within the carton form with thesides walls of the bag secured to inside faces of the side walls of thecarton form.
 8. A pack as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that amouth part of the bag can be folded to form outwardly extending wingportions to fold around the article between the side walls and tuckedbetween the bottom wall of the bag and base of the carton form to holdthe bag closed.
 9. A pack as claimed in claim 4, characterized in thatthe carton form is located within the bag.
 10. A pack as claimed inclaim 5, characterized in that the carton form is located (with) withinthe bag.